If He Hollers Let Him Go Theme

In If He Hollers Let Him Go by Chester Himes writes of an intelligent but conflicted man, Bob Jones, who relocates himself from Ohio to California in search to find a better life and job. Along with financial benefits, Bob also hopes for social mobility when he meets Alice. However, Bob soon finds race to be controlling much of what he sees and experiences in Los Angeles, California. Fear and panic dominate Bob’s world and his nightmares are soon indistinguishable from his reality. The novel’s insight, gained from the real life interests of its author Chester Himes, explores the experiences Himes felt in his 1972 autobiography, “Los Angeles hurt me racially as much as any city I have ever known - much more than any city I remembered from

the South.” Himes meant that his racist experiences in Los Angeles were worse than any racist experience in the South. This is because the South is clear cut racism however, California was known for great opportunity, yet Bob Jones finds those opportunities being far from true.
In Bob’s pursuit to find the American Dream, he learns that black men are prevented from success unless they accept the view that society gives them, being a “nigger.” As an assistant foreman in a predominantly white environment, Bob hopes for respect and acceptance, however that is exactly opposite of what he receives.

Bob was told by his coworker Don that he could borrow one of his tackers, Madge. Upon first meeting Madge she immediately made it clear that she was not going to help him and exclaimed, “I ain’t gonna work with no nigger!” Bob soon realizes after talking with his department superintendent, MacDougal, that he was only promoted to gain the cooperation of black workers. He becomes aware of the responsibilities he must take on in order to keep his position, however with his frustrations he begins to struggle with murderous intentions and complete collapse. Further into the chapter we see Bob continue to become frustrated when his personal belief of power becomes questioned. After winning a dice game, the whites deny his winnings and tell Bob, “You’ll take hell, you nigger bastard.” Bob immediately snaps and kicks the white man that called him a “nigger.” Bob knows that he is outnumbered and therefore cannot win the fight, however he kicks the man anyways. We see that whenever Bob’s power is threatened, he loses all self-restraint and his anger and frustration takes

over.
Not only is Bob’s power threatened throughout the novel, but his masculinity is as well. We see Bob use his sexual identity to express his masculinity throughout the course of the novel, specifically his relationship with Madge. Bob desires to have sex with Madge because she is a white woman, and Bob sees having sex with her “whiteness” as a sense of power. Even though Madge can control Bob’s power with just one word, “rape” Bob feels that during sex he will have the ultimate power.